Day 5 – Philippians 1:22-26

Fri 15th May – Read Philippians 1:22-26

V22: If Christ preserves his life and sets him at liberty, it will be for further fruitful gospel service. But would he prefer to continue in His earthly life and service, or to be with the Lord? He really is unsure which he would choose. How different from most of our thinking. Have we not grown too comfortable with this world?

V23: He knows that to be with Christ would be the better state, and in part he longs for this most of all. How real, how precious the prospect of heaven is to Paul. Is it so to us?

V24: Yet in his continued love for them, and ministry to them ( even now, from prison ) he believes it will be better, for their sakes, to remain alive. How dear these believers are to him – but in all this, he will willingly submit to God’s will.

V25-26: Thinking this through, and as the Spirit leads him, he is ( almost ) sure that God will deliver him to continue to minister to them ( and to others ) and be a means, under God, of their further growth as Christians and their greater joy. If he is set free he will come to them again, and this will be a further cause to give glory to the Lord. In fact scholars disagree whether Paul was set free from this particular imprisonment, and we cannot be sure. Only let us know, as Paul himself did , that all things are in God’s sovereign hand.